Following The Clues
by BeachBum84
Summary: Juliet has a secret admirer. Now she just has to follow the clues to find out who it is.


**A/N: This is my first Psych fic. I hope you enjoy it. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything. **

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"I don't understand it, we are all working on the same side. You should be encouraging your colleagues, not trying to tear them down." Chief Vick said, mostly directing her statements to Detective Lassiter.

Juliet shifted in her seat. This encounter was reminding her a lot of being sent to the principal's office. Something she didn't know from experience, of course, just something that she imagined from what her friends had told her of their experiences when she was younger.

"I offered..." Juliet started to say, she was quickly cut off by the chief's look.

"You should be offering to help..." The chief looked like she was searching for the name of the new guy for a moment. "To help Donnelly. Not snapping at him every five minutes. You were once new here. Can't you show a little compassion?"

Juliet shifted in her seat again. She didn't know why she was here and she felt uncomfortable watching her partner being scolded. Though, it was true that Lassiter had been snapping at the new guy excessively this morning.

The chief folded her hands in front of her. "I wanted to talk to you both about this because it starts with you two. As partners, you should be learning from each other, working to strengthen your weaknesses. Lassiter, you can learn a lot about how to treat people from O'Hara..."

Juliet smiled and sat straighter in her chair. She looked over at Lassiter and saw that he was wearing the same stony expression he had been all morning.

"And O'Hara, there's a lot you can learn about being a detective from Lassiter. There's a lot that you can't learn from memorizing laws and procedures..."

Juliet's smile faltered slightly. She prided herself on being a good detective. Though, she supposed the chief was right. Lassiter does have a lot more experience than she does. Juliet realized that the chief hadn't meant the comment to be insulting. She was just pointing out how they can both be stronger detectives because of each other.

"I want you two to think about what I said. Find ways to work with each other. Once you find a way to encourage each other, hopefully you will be able to encourage your other colleagues."

They all sat in silence for a moment. "Are we done?" Lassiter asked, speaking for the first time the whole meeting.

"I don't know if it's because of the time of year, but you can't continue with this attitude." The chief said. "You can go now."

Juliet frowned as she watched her partner leave the office and go over to the coffee pot. She had noticed Lassiter's attitude has been getting worse all week. Maybe the fact that today was Valentine's Day was the reason for his sour mood. Juliet noticed an envelope sitting on the center of her desk. She stared at it for a moment. It had her name written in block letters so she wouldn't recognize the handwriting.

Curiosity finally won after Juliet sat down. She carefully opened the envelope and let its contents fall on the desk. Now laying on her desk, was a pink heart shaped card. She picked up the card and opened it. Written on the inside of the card in block letters was, "Valentine's day is a day of surprises. If you follow the clues, you might find your surprise."

Juliet turned the card over and frowned. What was the first clue? She looked at the card from all angles. She couldn't figure it out. Maybe it was a joke. Someone wanted to get her hopes up by sending her a card but then leaving no clues to follow.

"O'Hara. What are you doing?" Lassiter's question interrupted Juliet's thoughts.

Juliet blushed slightly and put the card down. "Nothing." She muttered.

"Maybe you should be getting your paperwork done instead of playing with paper hearts." Lassiter said before sitting down to start his paperwork.

Juliet wanted to explain that she wasn't _playing with paper hearts_. She was trying to solve a mystery. She made a face at Lassiter that he didn't see before starting her paper work. Like he had any right to lecture her on paperwork, Juliet was much further along with her paperwork than Lassiter was. 'At least I know who _didn't_ send me the card.' Juliet thought grumpily.

"Hey, Jules." Juliet heard from Shawn an hour later.

"Hey." She replied, not looking up from her work.

Shawn leaned over Juliet's shoulder. "I don't see why you're not happy, someone sent you a Valentine's Day card." Shawn reached over for the card. Juliet tried to get to it but Shawn got to it first.

"Shawn, that's mine." Juliet said. She wished she hadn't whined, but the fact that she didn't know who sent it had been weighing on her mind for the past hour.

"Oooh, A mystery. Do you need me and my psychic abilities to help track down your secret admirer?"

Juliet snatched the card back from Shawn. "No." She said, putting the card back on her desk.

"Hey, Juliet." Gus said, approaching them. "Any cases?"

"Nope. We're catching up on paperwork today."

"But, Jules, you're not telling him about the case you _do_ have?"

"What case?" Gus asked.

"It's nothing." Juliet said, pulling herself away from her paperwork again. She noticed that Gus had one hand behind his back. She moved in her chair to see what he was hiding. Unfortunately, Gus moved. Juliet gave up her attempt, she didn't want to appear to be too obvious.

"Jules has a secret admirer. I think she needs our help figuring it out who it is." Shawn said.

"I can figure it out on my own." Juliet said.

"Fine, if you say so." Shawn turned to Gus. "Ready for lunch? Today feels like a taco day."

Gus shrugged. "Whatever."

Shawn started to walk away but Gus hadn't moved. He moved his hand out from behind his back. "Happy Valentine's day, Juliet."

Juliet gasped softly when Gus handed her a small vase of flowers. "Thank you! They're gorgeous!" She gushed.

"Come on, Dude, not cool. Why do you always have to try to out shine me?" Shawn asked, returning to Juliet's desk.

"There was nothing to out shine, Shawn. You didn't get Juliet anything. She works hard. I think deserves flowers." Gus said.

"I did get Jules something." Shawn searched his pockets. "I got her..." He pulled his hand out of his pocket. "I got her this pen. Juliet deserves a new pen. She works hard. Happy Valentine's Day." He said, offering the pen to Juliet.

Gus rolled his eyes while Juliet accepted the pen. She smiled. "Thank you both."

"You're welcome." Gus said.

"No problem." Shawn said. They both started to walk away. Shawn paused for a second and looked back at Juliet. "I would check the envelope again." He said before walking away.

Juliet waited until Shawn was out of sight before checking the envelope again. She turned it over and shook it, hoping something else would fall out of it. She reached her hand in but didn't feel anything. She finally peered into the envelope. That's when she saw small writing. '16 Main Street.' it said in the same block lettering that the card had been written in.

16 Main Street? That was the address for the bakery that she went to regularly. Juliet put the card and the envelope in the desk drawer. She decided that she would check it out.

"I'm going to get lunch. Want anything?" Juliet asked Lassiter as she put on her jacket.

"Hmmm?" Lassiter looked up from his paperwork.

"Want me to pick you up something to eat while I'm out?"

"No, Thanks." Lassiter said before returning to his paperwork. Juliet frowned. She wished there was something she could say to cheer him up, but she couldn't find the words. Maybe she would think of something while she's out.

"Hey, kid." Gina, the bakery owner said when Juliet entered. "I'm glad you came in today."

"Why's that?"

"This came in the mail for you today." Gina handed Juliet a pink envelope.

"Why would mail come for me here?" Juliet asked as she took the envelope. There was no return address. The address for the bakery and her name was written in the same block letters as the first card. Juliet smiled. Maybe it was Shawn, he was the one who knew the clue was on the inside of the card.

Juliet frowned. Shawn always had a way of knowing things though. Maybe it was Gus. Juliet had never really thought of Gus like that, but he had given her flowers.

Why would he give her flowers if he was the one to send her the card? Juliet smiled again. 'To throw me off.' She thought.

"So, what can I get for you, kid?" Gina asked.

Juliet looked at the various cookies and cakes in the display case. There were heart shaped cookies with red sugar sprinkles on them. 'Maybe I should get something for Lassiter anyway. To cheer him up.' She thought before quickly dismissing the idea. She didn't think he would like the implications of her giving him a heart shaped cookie on Valentine's Day.

'But if I buy a bunch of them...' Juliet pointed to the heart shaped cookies. "Can I have a dozen of those, please?"

After getting a dozen of chocolate heart shaped cookies as well, Juliet returned to the station. She still wasn't sure who her secret admirer was, but she felt like she had accomplished something by receiving the second envelope.

Juliet handed out the cookies to the people she saw on the way to her desk. "Cookie?" Juliet said, holding out the box for Lassiter.

"Excuse me?" Lassiter said, looking up at her. He noticed the box of cookies and the confusion cleared from his face. "Thanks, O'Hara."

Juliet felt content when Lassiter picked up a cookie and took a bite. He closed his eyes for a moment. "These from that bakery on Main street?" He asked after swallowing the bite and opening his eyes.

"Yeah. It is." Juliet replied. She thought she saw Lassiter's mouth twitch but she realized it was probably because of the cookie.

"I thought so." Lassiter took another bite of the cookie and turned back to his paperwork.

"O'Hara?" Lassiter asked a moment later.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you staring at me?"

Juliet felt herself blush. "I was just thinking..."

"Well, can you _think_ over at your desk? You're kinda creeping me out." Lassiter said, not looking up from his paperwork.

Juliet walked over to her desk with a sigh. She definitely knew who _didn't_ send the card, but maybe she wished he was a possibility.

Thinking about the card reminded Juliet of the envelope in her pocket. She pulled it out and opened it carefully. She checked the envelope inside and out before finally checking the piece of paper that had fallen out of it.

'Gibson, Kelley.' was written on the piece of paper. They had just closed the Gibson case last week. Juliet decided she would check the records room for the file. This at least narrowed it down to someone at the station, but since Juliet had only come up with two possibilities, it didn't help that much.

In the Gibson file, Juliet found an note directing her to the convenience store around the corner. She bought a bottle of water and the clerk handed her another note.

Five notes later, Juliet was standing in front of the vending machine. She didn't see any obvious clues. She was only there because the last note had said, 'Vending Machine.' in the same block lettering that was starting to irritate Juliet.

It had to be Shawn. This was just like him to do this. Juliet sighed. If that was the case, he could have meant any vending machine in the city. She frowned, it could also be Gus. He spent enough time around Shawn. And the flowers earlier. Gus did have a way of surprising people sometimes.

"Can't decide what to get?" Juliet heard from behind her.

She turned and saw Buzz. "No... I..." She looked at the vending machine again before turning to Buzz. "Hey, do you think you could check the top of the vending machine for me?" She asked. It was the one place she hadn't checked because she couldn't reach it.

Buzz looked confused for a second before nodding. "Sure." He ran his hand along the top of the machine. When his hand came back down, it was holding a piece of paper. Buzz handed it to Juliet.

"Thanks." Juliet said.

"No problem." Buzz said before walking away. Buzz was always so nice and helpful.

Juliet knew that Buzz was married, but it also made her realize that it could be another officer at the station that had sent her the card. So much for narrowing down her choices...

Juliet looked down at the paper in her hand. 'Desk' was the word that was written on this one.

"Where have you been?" Lassiter asked as Juliet sat down at her desk.

"Around." Juliet replied.

"Well, I finished up all my paperwork. So, I guess I'm going to go home." Lassiter said, putting the rest of the papers on his desk away.

"Yeah, I might head out early, too. I'm almost done with mine."

"Okay, See ya tomorrow, O'Hara."

"Yeah, sure." Juliet muttered, she picked up her pen as Lassiter put on his jacket. "Carlton?" Juliet said as Lassiter started to walk away.

"Yeah?" Lassiter asked, turning to face Juliet.

"Happy Valentine's Day."

Lassiter looked uncomfortable for a second before saying, "Yeah, you too."

Juliet was about to start her paperwork again when something red caught her eye. She picked up the red envelope and opened it. 'Meet me at the park, across from the Ice Cream place at 5.'

Juliet glanced at the clock. It was 4 o'clock now. With a smile, Juliet put away her paperwork. She wasn't sure who she was meeting at the park, but she wanted to look nice for it. She gathered the various notes she collected through the day and put them in her bag. She picked up her flowers and headed home.

It was five minutes to five when Juliet reached the Ice Cream place. She had changed into a red dress, reapplied her makeup and let her hair down. She was starting to feel nervous now as she crossed the street to go into the park.

Almost immediately, she spotted a red package on the bench. Upon closer inspection, she discovered that it was a heart shaped box of chocolate. Taped to it, was a card with her name on it. This time it wasn't written in block letters. Juliet recognized the writing but couldn't figure out whose writing it was.

"I see you found it." Juliet heard from behind her.

Juliet turned around and saw Lassiter. He had changed into a freshly pressed suit and he was standing with his hands in his pockets.

"You...?" Juliet was confused. She was sure that Lassiter _wasn't_ the one.

"I thought about what the chief said. Since you're a girl, I thought maybe you'd be motivated by..." Lassiter said with a shrug. "You did good. I wasn't sure you would find the vending machine one... You did, right?" Lassiter looked as if he just realized the last clue had been at her desk and she would have found it anyway.

"Yeah, Buzz helped me get it." Juliet said. She gripped the box of chocolates to her chest, unsure of what feeling she was actually experiencing. "So, all this is because the chief said...?"

Lassiter frowned slightly, looking unsure of how to reply.

"And the suit?" Juliet asked.

"I have a date."

"Oh." Juliet said softly. "Okay." Juliet was surprised at the sadness she felt. "Thanks for the chocolates."

"You're welcome." There was something in Lassiter's eyes that Juliet couldn't quite identify.

Eventually the awkward silence became too much. Lassiter turned to walk away.

Juliet felt tears welling up in her eyes and she tried to will them away. She had been surprisingly happy to find Lassiter in the park and now...

A thought suddenly occurred to Juliet. Lassiter went straight to the coffee pot after they left the chief's office. She remembered watching him and he didn't go near her desk at all. That meant the first envelope was there _before_ they went into the chief's office.

"Carlton!" Juliet said, moving as quickly as she could in her heels to where Lassiter was.

"Yeah, O'Hara?" Lassiter asked, looking at her.

"You want to... go get something to eat? You know, because the chief said that you can learn a lot from me... about interacting with people and such." Juliet said brightly.

Lassiter smiled. "You know, Juliet, one of the important things about being a detective is being able to tell when someone's lying."

The fact that he had used her first name wasn't lost on Juliet. "You're right. That's a very important lesson." She reached for Lassiter's hand and smiled when his fingers tightened around her hand. "So... You don't really have a date, right?"

"Oh, I have a date." Lassiter replied, pulling Juliet a little closer.


End file.
